By 2014, the average number of connected devices per knowledge worker is expected to reach 3.3, according to the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study released today. And a whopping 95 percent of respondents permit employee-owned devices in some way in the workplace.
Plus, more than three-fourths of IT leaders consider BYOD a gateway to greater business benefits, including increased productivity and greater job satisfaction. So there’s no doubt about it: Work is fast becoming an activity, not a location.
But what does this mean for partners? Opportunity, of course. You’re in the enviable position to leverage Cisco’s new “Your Way” Smart Solutions to provide customers with a holistic approach to BYOD in the workplaces. These solutions are completely scalable, and also address mobility, security, virtualization, and network policy management.
The benefit to your customers, you ask? Cisco IBSG estimates that the annual savings from BYOD range from $300 to $1,300 per employee. Now that can really start to add up!
Want to know what you can begin selling today? Read More »
Finally! Partner Summit is just around the corner. The Cisco team is excited to see you in person, beginning on April 16 in sunny San Diego, California.
If you’re not going to be in San Diego, you can still attend virtually. Just tune in via Virtual Partner Summit (VPS), beginning on April 17. All you need to do is register.
So what are the big topics at Partner Summit? Cloud and Collaboration are definitely top of mind. There’ll also be some fantastic breakout sessions. Some of them include “The Virtualized Workspace—New Solutions and Programs” and “Get in the Driver’s Seat with Smart Services.” The smart services session is just one of Partner Summit’s business transformation sessions. Others feature Cisco’s evolving Partner Program portfolio and how to accelerate mid-market success.
You’ll hear keynotes and have the opportunity to participate in live chat with top executives and regional leaders such as John Chambers, Padmasree Warrior, Edison Peres, and Jim Sherriff, to name a few. You can also join your regional theater breakouts covering topics for all the geographies.
Watch the video from our Roving Reporter to get all the details you need.
Keep reading to find out more about our Partner Summit Ambassadors, our new Roving Reporter, how to win an iPad or snag a t-shirt, the must-have checklist to help you navigate the event, and more. Read More »
This was just one piece of business wisdom we heard from Jeffrey Hayzlett, former Chief Marketing Officer at Kodak and author of the book Running the Gauntlet.
Jeffrey spoke at Partner Velocity, Cisco’s biggest partner marketing event of the year. We’ll share more words of wisdom, interviews, and tips we recently brought home from the event in this episode of Partner Update.
We’ll also cover a number of cloud-related stories, including cloud marketing resources, Light Reading’s Cloud Mega Test results, the Cloud Partner program, and how to ease cloud deployment of the Microsoft Private Cloud solutions. We’ve also got a host of new partner resources and templates, plus our Tweet of the Week.
Have five minutes to spare? Tune in now and get all your Cisco partner news.
Need more info? Keep reading for links, descriptions, and details on each item covered in our newscast.
Making Cisco easier to do business with. That is one of the committments the company outlined this year as part of its refinements and evolution. The results in doing so continues, we hope you see it and feel it. That promise shows up in many places across the company including our Services business. Services is one area of any business that is multifaceted, no doubt. At Cisco it’s a differentiated strategy that we bring to the market because of our partner-centric approach. Services provides a huge opporutnity for our partners,we recognize that and it now represents 40-50% of Cisco channel partners business, up from 20 percent just five years ago.
Partners participate in the Services opportunity at every level, from the largest global customers to the local small business. Our partners are the extension our Services arm. And that’s not just “lip Service” --to back it up Cisco is taking the next step forward to further clarify our sales engagement model and drive consistency in the field to continue momentum with absolute clarity. We just published our Services Rules of Engagement to provide our partners with a definitive road map for how to engage with Cisco Services and maximize their Cisco Services investment. Specifically the document does the following:
Defines the partners role in the selling and delivery of Cisco services
Helps partners build a collaborative and predictable field sales and delivery model
Gives partners easy steps to driving accelerated customer adoption of smart services capabilities
Delivers a clear field escalation process should a mishap occur
Describe the sales compensation neutrality strategy
You be the judge as to how this really works, your outside voice and views are a great reality test. Let us know what you hear and how we are doing, we think we are off to a solid start, so let’s engage.
To learn more, click here and check out a blog by Raja Sundaran VP WW Services Partner Organization on the Rules of Engagement that talks more about Cisco’s approach and “tasty” opportunity for our partners.
Hit the video below from Keith Goodwin, SVP WW Partner Organization, and Bob Singleton, SVP WW Services Partner Organization on our Services Go-to-Market model and ways partners will benefit.
According to SiriusDecisions, 70% of the buying process is now completed before the prospect is ready to speak with a sales representative. This means that marketing is moving further into the buying process as the prospective buyer uses new – and decidedly online – sources of information instead of a relationship with a sales professional to guide their purchasing decisions.
As B2B marketers we know it’s important to leverage social media as part of our marketing efforts and most of us are. However, it’s more important to pay attention to how our target buyers’ online behavior is changing overtime. How do IT professionals leverage social networks? What sources of content influence their purchase decisions? Do IT professionals have a preference for certain formats of content over others?
Answers to these questions can be found in the 2011 Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index. Read More »
By 2014, the average number of connected devices per knowledge worker is expected to reach 3.3, according to the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study released today. And a whopping 95 percent of respondents permit employee-owned devices in some way in the workplace.
